Mandela Month is more than a symbolic gesture — it’s a call to meaningful action that honours the legacy of Nelson Mandela by driving social change.
Sanjeev Raghubir, chief sustainability officer at the Shoprite Group. Image supplied
For the Shoprite Group, Mandela Day is not just a calendar event, but a daily commitment embedded in its sustainability strategy and community impact efforts.
"As one of Africa’s largest grocery retailers, Shoprite has crafted a sustainability strategy that reflects a deep understanding of the business, its stakeholders, and the rapidly changing environment in which it operates," explains Sanjeev Raghubir, chief sustainability officer at the Shoprite Group.
The Group’s mission is clear: to uplift lives every day by pioneering access to affordable goods and services, unlocking economic opportunities, and protecting the planet.
"In our mission to uplift lives, our CSI programmes impact vulnerable communities by focusing on hunger relief, food security, youth employment, and local entrepreneurship," adds Raghubir.
Shoprite’s community programmes operate year-round — an ongoing tribute to the spirit of Madiba.
These initiatives focus on four key areas: hunger relief, food security, youth employment, and local entrepreneurship.
Through its CSI initiatives, the Group continues to reach vulnerable communities across South Africa and beyond, ensuring that their needs are not only acknowledged, but actively addressed.
Sustainability that makes business sense
For others in the sustainability sector looking to align their work with meaningful impact, Raghubir says "start off by having a very good understanding of the material issues facing your organisation – the most significant impacts of its activities on society and the environment; as well as its dependencies on society and the environment.
Sustainability efforts need to account for these risks and opportunities to make business sense for any organisation, big or small. This approach is critical to ensuring that sustainability is not merely a tick-box exercise and should aim to drive business resilience and success."
At Shoprite, sustainability is integrated into every strategic decision. This includes addressing climate change, which is a growing concern for operations, supply chains, and the communities the company serves.
Raghubir adds that "Low-income communities and households unfortunately bear the brunt of droughts, floods, and fires due to climate change. The Group’s Act for Change programmes are aimed at strengthening the resilience of these communities through its support for more than 280 community food gardens over the past decade and its fleet of 33 mobile soup kitchens, which provide humanitarian relief to communities in need, especially during climate-related disasters"
Shoprite Mobile Soup Kitchen serving warm meals to a community in the Eastern Cape. Image supplied
Turning strategy into action
Over the past decade, the Act for Change programmes included:
More than 7.9 million hot meals served via a fleet of 33 mobile soup kitchens.
Over R250m in surplus food and goods donated to 500+ beneficiary organisations.
Support for 280+ community food gardens, impacting over 80,000 people.
Partnerships with 134 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres, improving nutrition for over 8,000 children and providing training for practitioners.When asked about a moment or campaign where there's been real human impact of Shoprite’s sustainability efforts, Raghubir says "Shoprite’s fleet of Mobile Soup Kitchens serves communities displaced by climate-related disasters, such as floods or fires. Often it is affected community members’ only warm meal of the day, as they try to rebuild their lives.
Our very first Mobile Soup Kitchen employee, Dion Raboroke, explains that the soup kitchen is often ‘a beacon of hope in many communities’. This reality, which our teams are often confronted with, reminds us how critical continuous community support is."
These efforts come to life most powerfully during moments of crisis.
As Mandela Month reminds us of our shared responsibility to make a difference, Shoprite stands as a powerful example of what it means to serve communities sustainably—not just for one month, but every single day.
